


justice of the d e v i l

by Ewiger_Schlaf



Series: d e v i l [1]
Category: Tales of Crestoria
Genre: Gen, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, implied sex scenes, just be safe reading this pls, one-sided Rebecca/Aegis, second person scenes, the way canon works basically for that relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:26:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27919705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ewiger_Schlaf/pseuds/Ewiger_Schlaf
Summary: In which Aegis Alver ends up controlled by his want for satisfaction and loves no man, no woman, no one but a man named Aegis Alver, who is simply a pitiful, vile man.
Series: d e v i l [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2044450
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	justice of the d e v i l

**Author's Note:**

> A friend asked for a fic where Aegis gets tortured. I wrote... something else. But the idea was still there! I just got very carried away after a certain scene.

What is a knight but a pawn? A blank slate, waiting to be etched on. Words, ideals… memories. There is nothing human, to be human is weakness. To be human was a sin.

And he was a sinner from the start, the moment he was born.

For they were all born with sin, (the very nature of humans, the repercussions of their free will, the reason why the race should conform) and there was no salvation for sinners.

None other (no, none at all) than (the idea of) the Messiah.

For he shall die, tortured for all hell, only to bring the world to some sense of purity. 

Purity, (the state of pure, but isn't that funny) the absence of evil (of anything), commonly associated with white (and yet black is the absence of all color). 

The Messiah will save this world. For the grand master. 

For they were all p a w n s.

And pawns go to h e l l.

# ❥

Aegis Alver.

A e g i s A l v e r.

The name held all meaning, and yet no meaning at all. A paradox, will you, of a name achieving such a fame being stripped of its glory as easily as a jacket.

One button. Two. He's on top of you, towering over. You allowed for it, he's supposed to dominate. He climbed the ranks for a reason.

His name held all the meaning in the world and yet was uttered so carelessly as if the night hadn't happened. As if he wasn't doing this to prove how important he was.

He had all the control, it wasn't stripped from him no matter what. Control on the field, control behind closed doors.

Doors meant to stay closed.

Closed.

Doesn't it seem funny? Ensuring his dominance in such a way? Such a way that _should_ hurt him more. Open him up. Leave him vulnerable. Call him out and kill him.

Desolc.

Aegis Alver made the world stop. 

The jacket's on the floor. Tossed carelessly, as will you, for you are not bound to his respect. This doesn't ensure respect. It only proves dominance.

Aegis Alver didn't care for your feelings, as his knee rests on your groin and he leans in for your throat, and you find yourself enjoying it.

Perhaps, just for once, this was for you.

That's what they all say.

But perhaps you were the exception.

(No one was.)

# ❥

Gadel receives word of Aegis.

To be honest, he had no eyes on him. A poor man doing well, he'll break like the rest. Become a perfect vessel of nothingness, able to fulfil nothing but his orders, be killed, and replaceable. For what is a pawn but not replaceable?

And what was a knight but a pawn?

But when Assid and Forte come to Gadel's beck and call with news of a name, of a man so famous and so devoid of everything. So controllable, and yet in control. The ultimate paradox, he knew he had found the slate for his engraver.

So Aegis was promoted.

# ❥

Aegis was to report to the King. His Majesty. For he was the Queen's aid, her servant. 

Protection was what he was tasked with, and as a knight of Medagal, he swore on his _life_ he would not forsake her. Would do anything for her. Even if it meant to lay his life down.

(Hands to his spear (tipped in blood) as he swore his oath (chains breaking) that for the Queen (kill), he would do anything for (her), death included.)

# ❥

Rebecca heard that oath and knew what it meant. But in her mind, she knew she could twist those words. If… he loved her. 

(He had a reputation.)

And he would love her.

(He loved no man.)

For she desired to be free. Free like a butterfly who regrew its wings.

(And how, pray tell, would a woman be any different?)

And she knew Aegis desired the same as well. He was shackled to chains he couldn't yet see, like her (though, she could make out the marks on her wrists, the indentations, the red flesh that was raw from being yanked), and they were both treated like dolls. 

(But he treated everyone like a doll.)

When they were butterflies, waiting to be free.

(Who said you were different?)

# ❥

Aegis hadn't needed to assert his dominance in a while. He hadn't felt threatened. Nothing was hurting him in the same way they did before. 

Instead the Queen loved him.

Her Majesty, loving a harlot such as him. It was impossible, and yet her eyes told the full story. 

She loved him, more than Gadel, more than anyone else in this forsaken place, and he could feel his body crumble. Some days he would even neglect his duties, simply to avoid her love.

And on that day, Assid visited him.

"Playing hooky now, are we?"

Aegis narrows his eyes. That was none of his business, and normally he could silence any false claims like that with a bed. With a door closed and the moaning that proved he was superior.

But for right now, word play sounded better. Far better. "And who are you to address how I handle my business? You aren't Gadel -" he drops the formality, for it hardly matters in this moment - he was the subject, the main focus, and Gadel was simply a decoration " - and therefore my actions have no meaning to you."

"Oh look at you," the lips on his face turn upwards, points befitting a devil, "acting as if you've asserted your brand of dominance on me. I beg you try, Aegis Alver; I'd like to see why that name loses all meaning."

Aegis smiles in return, more of a smirk. He hadn't felt the need to do this, but that hadn't meant he didn't _want_ to. "I'd love to show you."

Assid walks closer, within kissing distance, fingering Aegis' chin and tilting it forward, so he can kiss Aegis before the latter could get him into the bed. The kiss was quick, yet long; harsh, yet soft.

The devil itself.

"No one said I won't try to rip the wings off the angel, one by one." 

There's a chill that runs through Aegis' spine, a short-lived one, as it is smothered immediately by a desire for control, a desire that Aegis had always wanted.

He worked hard to be a knight.

His parents worked hard for him to be a knight. 

And like a waltz (one two three) he takes Assid's hand (one two three) and forces it off (forward forward back) to tilt Assid's face (forward forward back) and reclaim the kiss as his.

Like a symphony, Assid's hands move to Aegis' jacket and unbuttons it, as if that was his part to play.

(It wasn't.)

Assid was the harmony (fade away, don't matter, don't overpower) and Aegis was the melody (come to the front, matter, overpower).

And he was to be loud.

Letting go of the chin of Assid, Aegis restricts the arms of Assid, stretching them out like a cross before forcing them to the back (like a crossfade forcing a song out of your memory) and pushing him to the bed (because dominance was to be his).

Unbuttoning his jacket, the last button Assid left him with, he forgets he left Assid mobile. So the hands come up and rip his jacket off, bewildering Aegis.

Catching him off guard.

"Six pairs remain," Assid says as he grabs Aegis' shoulders in his shock and reverses the situation.

Aegis was the harmony (fading away, losing control) while Assid was the melody (getting stronger, in control).

Assid's knee was on Aegis' groin, forcing him to experience the same humiliation he made the others feel, as Assid leans forward.

Forward.

F o r w a r d.

Closer.

C l o s e r.

Until Aegis lips were touching Assid's just barely as his button down was undone enough just to expose his heart.

"What pretty skin…" Assid says, tracing a mark with his fingers as Aegis lies there, hopeless. "Perhaps we should put a sin here. I think a sin would work pretty here, what do you think, A e g i s A l v e r?"

What do you think,

What does he think,

What can he think?

"I'm not a sinner, how dare you -" 

Nail.

Aegis never noticed it, but Assid's nails were long, sharp, in his skin. Tracing a mark, a symbol, that Aegis could only recognize as that of a sinner.

Of a transgressor. Of a miscreant.

"Silly," Assid says, switching back to the soft tip of his finger, "you can hardly call yourself a saint. Not with that body count. You've left so many submissive, hurt, like butterflies with their wings torn. All in the name of satisfaction."

"And you say that's worthy of sin?" Aegis tries to turn but he's pinned down by Assid's legs and left arm. 

"I say that makes you a sinner." The words were like venom. Aegis was not a sinner. He was better than that. This man was simply lying. "But no one cares for the sins of pawns off to die."

The grip on him weakens ever so slightly, and yet Aegis finds himself trapped. Between the clean linen of the bed… And the soft spoken lies (truths) Assid speaks.

And those words encase around his neck, wrapping around but never squeezing.

"No one cares for those sins. But if you ruin another, higher piece…"

And they both knew.

Assid takes his hand off of Aegis' chest, making motion of a conductor for a swift cut, silence, death. The words wrapped around his throat disappear, and all Aegis is left with ringing.

"Well, I still think your chest is perfect for sin."

# ❥

You were no more.

Not just you, all of you. His body count. That's what you guys chose to call it. For you were just bodies who tried your best to offer yourself up, but he denied you and forced himself in. 

Your mind was on him alone. Him alone as you walked to the laboratory, where two scientists (Forte and Assid, or Assid and Forte, or were those even their names?) come and grant you salvation. His name was erased. His sins were erased from your mind. You had no mind. Only Gadel.

You would only serve Gadel.

And Aegis Alver was no more.

# ❥

Leon Magnus was a name that, if there were people with minds left, would be whispered throughout the halls as he passed, sword in hand, with the occasional stop to yell at someone (but all they said was his name, and here he was, saying they were unfriendly), before he continued with the click click clicks of his boots on tile.

But there was no one with minds left. Except him, the twins, Gadel, Rebecca, and him.

Aegis.

Leon only knew somewhat of his reputation. And if there were people with minds there would be rumors floating around about him and Aegis, rumors that would dissipate with one point of that man's sword, so elegantly crafted and yet so often threatened to be broken.

The click click clicks continue, from Gadel's throne to Leon's own quarters, his instructions clear: aid in the breaking of Aegis.

( _You really aren't going to, right, Leon?_ )

"Shut up, or did your fate leave you with no memories?"

( _Oh! Okay, that's a relief!_ )

Truth be told, Leon wasn't entirely sure what side was the side he was expected to play, but as he found himself reaching for the door he shared with his new roommate, a hand fluttered on top of his. As quickly as it came, it lifted itself up and returned back to the owner. 

"Oh, excuse me. It's just that room's... Occupied."

With a humpf, Leon responds, his eyes never locking with the owner of the hand. "And? I live there."

( _Leon, I think it's best to not challenge him._ )

And why's that, Leon wanted to fire back, but the hand was resting on top of his now, tightly.

"Isn't it best to listen to the orders of those in higher positions? You won't even look at me, how unnecessarily rude. We all have the same goal here, there's no need to be a stranger." 

“Who are you to speak as if you know me?” Leon asks, trying to remove his hand from the door so he can cross his arms, shift his weight, _intimidate_. But the hand grips tighter, so instead Leon glares, finally finding him face to face with a sickly smile that was unmatching of the eye that glared back. One of the twins, a person Leon never bothered to familiarize himself with. It was either Assid or Forte, but he didn’t care. It didn’t matter. They were in his way.

( _Leon… be careful, please._ )

( _No one wants to see you dead._ )

As if he was going to die from this.

“An ally,” the twin says finally. And his grip loosens, and Leon can finally cross his arms. Can finally give the stance that makes him so feared.

“Last I checked, I work alone.”

Silence, before the twin bows and speaks once more. “Well then, I bid you farewell. Know you don’t have to be a stranger.”

( _Phew, that went well, right Leon?_ )

A brow furrows.

( _Don’t tell me you plan to actually play the games of these jerks?_ )

“Stahn, do I look like I care?”

(He cares very much.)

# ❥

The rooms of the knights were simple. A bed per roommate, a mirror shared between the two, two desks, and a copy of their pledge - to remind them that their soul has been sold, willingly, of course, but sold nonetheless.

And as Aegis looks in the mirror, he doesn’t see himself. He sees a stranger that _looks_ like him, but it isn’t. 

He sees a man whose nailed, palms pierced and bleeding, on a cross. He’s left there to hang, until all the blood from his body exits, until he’s dead. A lifeless body that looks like Aegis, that was Aegis, but wasn’t him at all. Because Aegis couldn’t die. No, he had so much to deal out. So many sinners to be punished. 

That wouldn’t be him, for he was justice incarnate. And you couldn’t kill justice.

_“Silly you can hardly call yourself a saint. Not with that body count. You've left so many submissive, hurt, like butterflies with their wings torn. All in the name of satisfaction.”_

It echos in his mind, won’t stop won’t stop, like the blood from his palms, like the mirror’s reflection…

And then he wakes up, in his bed, and he’s not alone. 

Sitting on the chair that came with the provided desk, there was a man who was talking with… someone. No one. A raven-haired man arguing with no one.

Surely, to Aegis, _this_ had to be the dream, and the dream was the reality. He was alone, always alone, no one wanted to be with him anymore.

(No one wanted to be with the man who took away their ability to exist.)

He first believed him dying a gruesome death than him existing with another. Even if he knew said gruesome death was wrong. Even if he knew he would defy that fate. Simply because this scenario, in and of itself, was a lie as well - a lie that was just harder to swallow.

And harder to control.

“Who are you?” Aegis asks, cutting the conversation between nobody and nobody short.

“Leon Magnus, your partner, as per the King’s orders.”

“I don’t need one.”

“I don’t care.”

“I’ll show you why I don’t need one.”

“Not interested,” Leon fires back as if he had the interaction planned. Which _hurt_ , since Aegis had two desires. To leave everyone numb, and to prove Assid wrong. He just _had_ to, it was just his h u m a n n a t u r e. To take the control of the situation, leave them with the inability to speak because they were so enamored by him.

(Because no one has a voice to react.)

And yet, he also wanted to prove Assid wrong. Because he _wasn’t_ a sinner. That wasn’t sin, he was _incapable_ of sin. What he was doing wasn’t wrong, didn’t need a mark, especially not one on his chest… Especially not one there.

Aegis gets out of bed, putting his coat on as he stares Leon down, doing the opposite of what he would normally do. There was something in his mind, something that screamed wrong. He was losing control. Rapidly losing control.

“Are you -”

“Aegis, you’re a pitiful man, you know that?” 

Leon says that as Aegis buttons the final button on that jacket of his. 

_Not with that body count. You've left so many submissive, hurt, like butterflies with their wings torn. All in the name of satisfaction._

“ _No I am not!_ ” The words almost hiss. Almost yell. How dare he? They barely even met, and yet he’s passing judgement as if he knows him.

_You've left so many submissive, hurt, like butterflies with their wings torn. All in the name of satisfaction._

_Like butterflies with their wings torn._

(Shut up shut up shut up shut up shutupshutupshutup _shutupshutupshutup SHUT UP_ )

He was the butterfly, Leon, and Aegis wanted so badly to clip those wings so he could be in control.

(And yet the one rapidly losing control is you, Aegis.)

Leon just stares. Glares. And Aegis feels embarrassed. For only a second. Then all he feels is rage. 

“I’ll make you beg.”

“I’m not a dog.”

“You think you’re better than me?”

“Yes, actually.”

Aegis does the only thing he knows what to do in this situation.

(Aegis, you’re digging your own grave.)

(You will die for your beliefs, but no one will honor you, for your beliefs are flawed.)

“If you think you will make me grovel and submit myself to you, you are sorely mistaken. You are pathetic, pitiful for only knowing how to pleasure yourself -” _All in the name of satisfaction_ “- and rob everyone else of what makes them human. You are a selfish creature, a vile being that’s in need of help.

“But no one can help a man willing to dig his own grave.”

Before Aegis can retort, Leon picks up his sword and walks out of the room. 

For once, Aegis had lost.

# ❥

( _Leon, don’t you think you were a little harsh? I mean, he was just, scared, right? Right? You didn’t have to say those mean words, you didn’t have to be so harsh. I know you have a heart in there, somewhere, I mean, why else would you carry me around? So maybe show him some kindness? I sense an ability in him to change…_ )

( _Leon?_ )

“I don’t want to hear from you.”

# ❥

In the gardens that Rebecca frequents, simply because they remind her of home, she finds someone she doesn’t know surrounded by the two researchers that Gadel had trusted. She approaches, and the moment she is within earshot, the two pardon themselves, leaving Rebecca with the man she never knew. With the man she only has one question for.

“Where’s Aegis?”

“There’s better men to love.” 

She bites the inside of her lips, conflicted. She was happy for someone finally treating her not like a porcelain doll ready to break, but with the strength she had. And yet…

“My love is none of your business.”

“He’s in his room.”

“Thank you.”

# ❥

( _Leon, don’t tell me… you aided them. You said those words to break him, right?_ )

“I said those words because he needed to hear them,” Leon says, leaning back on the bench he was sitting on. It was a beautiful day, but to what cost?

The world was going to go to hell soon, anyway.

( _Oh, okay… but couldn’t you have been more gentle?_ )

“No.” Because the world was going to hell, and he couldn’t even change his lover into a human again.

# ❥

Many things happened that lead Aegis to report back to Gadel before he was scheduled to do so.

The Queen being one of them. She had come into his room, confessing her love, all of it, and trying to run him out of the castle. Those lifeless knights caught him, and brought them both before the King.

The King who sentenced his own wife to death.

Death, by her lover.

“Your Highness, I do not love her!” _I…_

_I don’t love anyone._

The sound of tears falling fills the room, as the lifeless knights prepped his hands with the sharpest spear they had… Aegis’ weapon of choice.

“If you truly care naught of her, you will kill her as she stands, and sell your body and soul to me.”

But that was - 

(You have morals _now_?)

\- that was wrong.

He rather pierce his own heart, than kill that of the innocence.

(Oh the irony. You save the woman, but not anyone else. You ripped the wings of every single butterfly in the garden, like a child who was curious. But unlike a curious child, who learned to stop once they found out the butterfly died, you kept going. Kept going. Because it propelled you further. That sickening want to have everything around you die moved you further. Because you wanted to be in this warped idea of control. You want everyone to bow down to you, without realizing that it takes true respect to do so, and not the fakeness you carved.)

(Leon was right, you are a pitiful creature with vile wants who does everything in the name of satisfaction, not justice.)

(Good luck finding another.)

“Oh Aegis, don’t delay the show for us!” 

Assid. Him and Forte were there, watching as if this was a movie, as if this was a spectacle. 

_You've left so many submissive, hurt, like butterflies with their wings torn._

(Why won’t he SHUT UP?) 

Maybe… Just maybe.

(Oh? Are you getting an idea?)

“Or would you rather you both die?” Gadel says, and Aegis grips his spear.

He was always a selfish man anyway. (Oh, so he _did_ get an idea.)

(The sounds of tears falling stop. Rebecca turns to him, sighing, with a smile on her face. She knew what was coming the moment Aegis gripped that spear harder. The smile was something Aegis couldn’t understand, but he understood the second gesture. The gesture of opening her heart to him. She wanted to be felled by his own hand. As her eyes flutter close, her mouth parts, to speak very few words. “Just tell me you love me.” She wanted an answer. “Aegis.” She wanted an answer. “Please.” She wanted an a n s w e r.

(“I cannot,” Aegis responds. (Because Aegis loves no man, no woman… Not right now, at least. He was too far gone.

(“Even if it’s a lie.” A n s w e r h e r. “I just want to hear those words.” She was desperate. She knew she wouldn’t be happy with a lie, but she lied to herself anyway. Because at least then she could die pretending. She could die happily p r e t e n d i n g.)

So perhaps his final act should be selfish.

(He drives the spear into her heart, causing a blood-curling scream. There’s tears, there’s blood… Blood fallen by his hand. Blood caused by his hand. The pristine white tile was red, his hands were red…

(Everything was red. Like that dream. The dream where Aegis’ palms were red… And he decided it was a lie.

(The Queen’s final words were foolish. For she uttered “love” to a man incapable of love currently. For he loved no one, but the idea of justice… 

(He drops the spear, the knights move to take it, but he suddenly starts unbuttoning his jacket, the movements the same hypnotic trance that left all of his fellow knights mindless. And when he gets to his clear white button down, it goes away too, leaving his chest exposed. Picking up the spear again, he points it to the same spot Assid so wonderfully pointed out was a perfect spot for his sin.

(And he carved a symbol, in front of everyone.)

Aegis Alver had died, the vision he saw in his dream was no more.

He, however, would rather turn the world to hell for his own satisfaction than die, so he’s reborn right where he stands.

And on that day, the world went to hell.

_~ End: Act 1 ~_


End file.
